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Sports

SOFTBALL: Milpitas Can't Slow Down Gunn's Ace

Titans starter leads way in early season El Camino showdown.

The Score: Gunn 6, Milpitas 1.

The Star: During a matchup of two undefeated teams in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division play, one player stood above the rest.

-Palo Alto softball starting pitcher Claire Klausner simply dominated from start to finish. The sophomore starter pitched seven strong innings, striking out 12 hitters in the circle and blasted two home runs at the plate. A force in all avenues of play, Klausner helped lead Gunn to a convincing 6-1 victory over on Wednesday afternoon in Milpitas.

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The rise ball was the primary weapon for Klausner, but everything in her repertoire was on point during the win. Using a steady fastball, a tough changeup and an occasional curve to go along with the deadly out pitch, the Titans ace stifled the previous undefeated Trojans.

Klausner homered in the fifth and sixth innings, driving in three of the six Gunn runs on the day.

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Alexus Perez, Jackie Castro, Kianna Ezell and Rachel Norman all recorded hits for the Trojans.

The Turning Point:  Milpitas (7-8, 4-1 El Camino) starting pitcher Marie Mosqueda held the potent Titans bats off the scoreboard until the fourth inning before things began to unravel.

Gunn (11-6, 5-0 El Camino) took a 1-0 lead off a solo homerun from Casey Maltz in the fourth inning, breaking up the scoreless tie. Still a pitchers dual through four innings of play, the Titans broke things wide open in the fifth. Klausner drilled her first blast of the day with one away to extend the lead to two. Junior Laura Kidder followed with a walk and a steal before senior Nicole Grimwood unloaded a monster shot into the left-center field gap. The moon shot scored both runners to double the lead to 4-0. Gunn would score once more in the frame, putting four tallies on the board in the pivotal top half of the fifth.

Milpitas pushed one run across in the sixth inning off a grounder from Sandy Olivera. The roller towards second allowed speedy Rachel Norman to score from third.

The Quotes: “I’m not sure what to make of our showing at the plate today,” Milpitas head coach Joanna Butcher said after the 6-1 defeat to Gunn. “The approach was uncharacteristic of the way we usually take our at-bats. Too many of the girls were trying to hit a line drive home run instead of putting the ball in play.”

Spring Break comes up next on the schedule for Milpitas.

 “Spring Break will give some of our players time to rest up,” Butcher said. “We won’t play Gunn until the last game of the season so we’ll have plenty of time to prepare.”

What's Next? Milpitas will play at on Friday. The two teams meet back on March 14 in the league opener for both schools. Milpitas topped Los Altos 1-0, the first of four straight wins in league play.

Bottom Line: The Milpitas hitters couldn’t solve the Gunn ace, leading to rushed at-bats and very little offensive production. Mosqueda and the Trojans defense behind her held strong for the first half of the game before a big inning from the visitors stretched out the lead. The two El Camino title contenders won’t meet again until the final day of the regular season on May 11 at Gunn High.

—————————

Gunn 6, Milpitas 1

G- 0 0 0 1 4 1 0- 6 8 1

M- 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 – 1 4 0

WP: Klausner. LP: Mosqueda

Records: Gunn 11-6, 5-0 El Camino. Milpitas 7-8, 4-1 El Camino.

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